Regulators look to improve air quality

LOS ANGELES—That perception that government regulations are tougher for rubber processors in California than elsewhere in the U.S.? It's true, according to officials of two state agencies.

They have to be more stringent when it comes to air quality issues because there's a federal mandate to do so, according to Sam Atwood of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the air pollution control agency for Orange County, Calif., which includes the urban areas of Los Angeles.

“Think of Los Angeles being the infamous smog capital of the country, if not the world, in the middle or late part of the 20th century,” the media relations manager said. In the 1960s, "70s and "80s, people in the city often couldn't even see the mountains from May to September, the smog was so bad.

“We still have the worst air quality in the nation in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area,” Atwood said. The SCAQMD's marching orders are to develop plans and regulations to meet federal and state air quality standards. And there's no two ways about it, he said: “We have adopted some of the most stringent regulations in the nation.”

At the same time, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health—better known as Cal-OSHA—doesn't shy away from the fact it is often at the vanguard of rulemaking and enforcement concerning worker safety and health.

“In some areas, Cal-OSHA does enforce regulations that are more protective than those enforced by federal OSHA or other states,” according to Julia L. Bernstein, public information officer for the department. Some rules are tougher than federal standards; others aren't even covered by the federal OSHA.

Be it air quality or worker health and safety, the rules and their enforcement are serious issues all California rubber processors must face.

The improvement in air quality has been remarkable in Los Angeles. Even President Obama pointed to it when announcing on Aug. 3 his proposal to cut power plant carbon emissions. As a student at Occidental College some 30 years ago, the city's smog made it hard for him to breathe when he went running.

“You fast-forward 30, 40 years later, and we solved those problems,” Obama said.

That doesn't mean the problem of air quality is over, the SCAQMD's Atwood said, and standards will continue to tighten. He said the district has about 100 field inspectors who typically issue a manufacturer with a notice to comply if they find something that isn't in compliance with the regulations.

“It's not a penalty,” he said, but a notice of what needs to be done, with a deadline set.

Existing plant modifications or new plants take a company into a permit process. The official said the SCAQMD people are there to answer any questions that a manufacturer has about compliance.

The creation of new regulations or amendments to existing ones doesn't happen in a vacuum in California. In fact, Atwood said the district may be unique in that it involves all stakeholders when such issues arise.

“Our first step is to assemble stakeholders, largely composed of representatives of the affected industry or business sector, and also include perhaps our sister regulatory agency representatives at state and federal agencies, and perhaps environmental groups if they wish to participate. But largely these groups consist of business stakeholders.”

The goal, Atwood said, is that most of the concerns of the stakeholders have been resolved by the time the new or modified rule is brought to the governing board that sets the policy.

“Hopefully, most of the differences have been worked out with the stakeholders. It doesn't always happen, but the intent is to work out as many as possible,” he said.

Among the complaints of some manufacturers—and a subject of continuing debate in the state, according to Atwood—are the air quality regulations placed on industry vs. transportation. Cars, trucks and buses account for the vast majority of ozone pollution in the region, government studies show, especially compared to industry.

He said most businesses in the Southern California district have reduced air pollution emissions by 90 percent in the past 60 years. Vehicle emissions remain a major issue and are being addressed at federal and state levels.

“My board is acutely aware of the fact that businesses have a huge amount of investment and resources in reducing emissions. They certainly aren't being required to do the impossible, to bear the entire burden,” he said.

Atwood also admits California is an incubator of sorts when it comes to many regulations. If a state or region is dealing with a problem, it makes sense to look at a rule that solves the same problem in California, he said.

The polyurethane industry has been at the forefront of regulations that involved California processors—especially concerning 4,4-'methylene-bis, more commonly called MOCA. Years ago the industry fought the federal OSHA and other agencies over regulations that would have eliminated the curative.

Today Cal-OSHA has a MOCA standard that the fed OSHA lacks, according to Cal-OSHA's Bernstein. Among other rules that California has and federal law doesn't concern ethylene dibromide, heat illness prevention, aerosol transmissible diseases, and injury and illness prevention programs.

The state has tougher-than-federal rules for other chemicals used in the rubber industry, such as acetone, aniline and ethyl benzene, as well as emergency eyewash and shower equipment requirements.

If an industry is considered high-hazard, planned inspections are conducted of employers, she said. “Most Cal-OSHA inspections are conducted in response to complaints of workplace safety problems or reports of accidents resulting in a work-related fatality or serious injury or illness,” she said.

The inspectors are trained on a wide range of hazards in many types of industry, she said, as well as how the regulations they enforce relate to those hazards.

The Cal-OSHA inspector's job is to investigate the causes of the complaint or accident that triggered the inspection, and they will look for other potential violations, Bernstein said. A company cited for a violation can expect a follow-up inspection in some cases, such as not submitting adequate evidence that the violation has been abated.

Rulemaking—which is done by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, which is separate from Cal-OSHA—involves a process that gives interested parties the chance to provide input when regulations are developed or revised, she said.